Water-level indicator for steam-boilers



A. UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEToE.

PATRICK CLARK, 4OF RAHW'AY, NEIN JERSEY.

WATER-LEVEL INDICATOR FOR rSTEAM-BOILERS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 11,080, dated June 6, 1854.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, PATRICK CLARK, of Rahway,in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented a new andImproved Method of Indicating the Level of Water in steam-boilers and ofregulating the supply of ywater fed the boiler and also of giving analarm in case the water should get below the proper level.

The nat-ure of my invention consists in indicating the level of water insteam boilers and also of regulating the supply of water fed to theboiler and of giving an alarm in case the water should get below theproper level, by means of the action c., the expansion and contraction)caused by the change of temperature which occurs in a vessel or chamberconnected with the boiler by means of tubes of sufficient length and ofsuch material as will prevent said chamber from being heated or cooledexcept by the presence or absence of the steam caused by the rise orfall of the water in the boiler.

To enable others skilled in t-he art to make and use my invention I willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

In the accompanying drawings Figure l is a perspective view of myimprovement as connected with a boiler. Figs. 2 and 3 are verticalsectional elevations showing the various parts.

The same letters refer to the same parts in all the figures.

A, Fig. l, is the boiler.

B B, Figs. l and 2, is a chamber connected with the boiler by the pipesE E, the uppermost of the two entering the boiler above the water leveland the lower one below it.

C C are the legs of an inverted siphon one of which passeslongitudinally through the' chambers B B, leaving a sufficient spacebetween its exterior surface and the interior surface of the chamber toallow water to pass freely between them. The interior 'surface of thesiphon should be tinned to prevent the liberation of hydrogen gas which'would change the induction of the instrument..

X X is a cap for closing that leg of the siphon passing through thechamber B B after filling it with water.

I I is a glass tube connected with the siphon at (w).

V V is a cock for blowing the air out of the space between the exteriorsurface ofy boiler by means of the tubes E E the level of the water inthe boiler and in the space between the chamber and the pipe C will bethe same. If steam is now raised all that part of the chamber not filledwith water will be filled with steam. 'Now the difference between thetemperature of the water in the annular chamber and the steam above itis such that any water in the tube C above the level of the surroundingwater in the chamber B B is converted into steam while any steam in thetube C below the level of the surrounding water in the chamber iscondensed. Hence the level of the water in that leg of the siphoninclosed in the chamber B will be always the same as the level of thewater in the annular space surrounding it. Therefore if the water in theannular space around the siphon C changes its level, which of course itwill should the water in the boiler change its level, the same change oflevel will occur in the inclosed leg of the siphon C which change may beseen in the glass tube forming a part of the other leg of the siphon C.By this means the indicationslmay be conveyed to any distance from wherethe boiler is located, common air inclosed in a small tube answering thepurpose of conveying the indications.

D, Fig. 3, is a branch of the main chamber B B, having inserted in itthe tube F, the inner end of which is closed to prevent anycommunication between the water surrounding it and the water inclosed init. It is filled by means of the cock H.

Gr is a tube leading from the lowest point of the tube F to a piston andcylinder (or any well known device for producing motion by means offluid pressure) located near the valve which governs the supply of waterto the boiler and connected with it in such a manner that the pressureagainst the piston will move the valve so as to increase the supply ofwater to the boiler. The operation of this'part of my invention is asfollows: The tube F being filled with water throu h the cock H and thecock closed the tube g) being in connection with the cylin-` der andpiston as described. If the Water should now fall in the boiler andchamber so that the steam could enter and surround the pipe F, the Waterin the tube F would become Converted into steam, causing pressure to beexerted against the piston, which Would Open the supply valve and allowthe Water to be pumped into the boiler. ShouldA the Water rise again inthe boiler the press'ure would cease and the supply be out 01T.

1What I claim as my invention and desireto secure by Letters Patent isIhe arrangement of the tube C and F in relation to the chamber B inconnection With the boiler, whereby through the action 15 a valve in thefeed Water pipe substantially 20 as described.

PATRICK CLARK.

Witnesses JOHN MOORE, I. N. MATHER.

